The Effects of Video Games on Human Intelligence

With the help of rapidly growing electronics industry offering more affordable electronic gaming devices, an increasing number of people have stepped into the realm of video games and as a result, playing video games has become part of life for many to some extent. While the majority of people are embracing the fun and the thrill that video games have brought about, a handful of people are still holding relatively negative opinions on video games, thinking that playing video game is just a waste of time and money. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. It has proved that video game is actually playing a multifaceted positive role in improving people’s intelligence, or making people smarter on the physiological aspect, the psychological aspect as well as the sociological aspect

Parasocial and Social Player-Avatar Relationships: Social Others in Thomas Was Alone

The nature of the relationship between the player and a video game avatar has been the cause of much academic discussion and debate. While in the past most studies focused on parasocial relationships, the new Banks-Bowman social categorization system provides a beneficial and enlightening new framework with which to examine how the player relates to the avatar. The interactive mediums through which players relate with playable characters separate such relationships from those created with film or literary protagonists. This interactivity allows for social player-avatar relationships, including the avatar-as-social-other relationship exemplified in the game Thomas Was Alone, and creates new possibilities important for game designers to consider. This article first briefly explores the academic discussions surrounding the player-avatar relationship in light of the new Banks-Bowman categories, then turns attention to the ways in which the avatar-as-social-other relationship and its corresponding emotionally intense gameplay are exemplified in the game Thomas Was Alone.

The Health Benefits of Video Games

This paper seeks to evaluate if video games are useful as more than just entertainment.  The research shows that they can be utilized in the educational, medical, and business fields. Video Games have been shown to benefit the physical, emotional, and mental health of players, as well as create more efficient learning and working environments. The article argues that video games are no longer just a source of entertainment, as they are now becoming useful tools in society

Avoidance of the real and anxiety about the unreal: attachment style and video-gaming

In this article, the authors discuss the light and dark side of attachments and attachment style in physical and digital worlds. They argue that many games offer opportunities for the generation of new and meaningful attachments to both physical and digital others. They discuss two ‘fundamental attachment errors’ and show how these can lead to both ‘light’ outcomes, in terms of opportunities to learn more secure attachment patterns, and ‘dark’ outcomes, where existing dysfunctional behaviours become more pronounced. The authors argue that the avatars which children adopt online have important consequences for their psychosocial development, and that these are mediated through the degree to which the real self is differentiated from the avatar. It is proposed that attachment is a key force in understanding play, and that studying its manifestations and effects in digital playscapes may contribute to understanding the effects of life online, and how insecure attachments may become secure

Avoidance of the real and anxiety about the unreal: attachment style and video-gaming

In this article, the authors discuss the light and dark side of attachments and attachment style in physical and digital worlds. They argue that many games offer opportunities for the generation of new and meaningful attachments to both physical and digital others. They discuss two ‘fundamental attachment errors’ and show how these can lead to both ‘light’ outcomes, in terms of opportunities to learn more secure attachment patterns, and ‘dark’ outcomes, where existing dysfunctional behaviours become more pronounced. The authors argue that the avatars which children adopt online have important consequences for their psychosocial development, and that these are mediated through the degree to which the real self is differentiated from the avatar. It is proposed that attachment is a key force in understanding play, and that studying its manifestations and effects in digital playscapes may contribute to understanding the effects of life online, and how insecure attachments may become secure

Tourism, migration, and the exodus to virtual worlds: place attachment in massively multiplayer online gamers

Place attachment to both physical and virtual places was investigated in an online survey of massively multiplayer online gamers. Participants (N=740) completed a place attachment inventory once for the place in the physical world which they considered home, and once for a place in a virtual world they felt attached to. In addition, measures of personality, gaming motivation, life satisfaction, attachment style, and identification with online avatars were taken. Results suggested that place identity, place uniqueness, and place social bonding were higher for physical places than for virtual places, but that place affect was higher for virtual places. A small number of participants (N=55, 7%) identified virtual ‘homes’, which participants felt were more special and which they identified more strongly with than other virtual places, and that were as unique and associated with an equal sense of belonging to physical homes. Results are interpreted through the lens of migration theory, and recommendations made for future research into digital domiciles and migration

Exploring the relationship between video game expertise and fluid intelligence

Hundreds of millions of people play intellectually-demanding video games every day. What does individual performance on these games tell us about cognition? Here, we describe two studies that examine the potential link between intelligence and performance in one of the most popular video games genres in the world (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas: MOBAs). In the first study, we show that performance in the popular MOBA League of Legends' correlates with fluid intelligence as measured under controlled laboratory conditions. In the second study, we also show that the age profile of performance in the two most widely-played MOBAs (League of Legends and DOTA II) matches that of raw fluid intelligence. We discuss and extend previous videogame literature on intelligence and videogames and suggest that commercial video games can be useful as 'proxy' tests of cognitive performance at a global population level

The Female Video Game Player-character Persona and Emotional Attachment

This research, using online qualitative survey questions, explored how players of the PlayStation 4 console game, Horizon Zero Dawn, formed emotional attachments to characters while playing as, and assuming the persona of the female player-character, Aloy. It was found that the respondents (approximately 71% male) formed emotional attachments to the female player-character (PC) and non-player characters. Players found the characters to be realistic and well developed and they also found engaging with the storyworld via the female PC a profound experience. This research advances knowledge about video games in general and video game character attachment specifically, as well as the emerging but under-researched areas of Persona Studies and Game Studies